Backlink Management: Tracking the Links You Build After They Go Live
A link you earned last month can be taken out of the article, and nobody tells you. Backlink management is the record and the re-checks that catch it. Here is what to track, how to check it, and what our own nightly checks found.
Keep one row per earned link: page, target URL, anchor, rel and the date you first saw it. Re-fetch each page on a schedule, and check by hand before you chase a link that looks gone.
Search Console: useful for links you didn't build, not a full list. Why
rel: only sponsored, ugc and nofollow qualify a link. Details
MentionAgent re-checked placed links nightly from 26 September to 17 October 2026: 86% were live, 12% sat on pages that block automated checks, and 2% were marked gone.
Followed: 94% of the live links carried no nofollow or sponsored value. Table
What to record for each link
| Field | Why you need it |
|---|---|
| Their page URL | The page you re-fetch. The homepage of the site is not enough. |
| Target URL | Confirms the link still points at the page you agreed on. |
| Anchor text | Shows if the sentence was rewritten. Keeps your anchor mix visible. |
| rel value | Tells you if the link passes credit. It can change after you check it. |
| First and last seen | The last date you saw it live is what makes "gone" mean something. |
| How it was earned | Editorial, swap or paid. Swaps carry a link you owe back; paid ones need a qualifier. |
| Contact | Who to write to if it changes. The author finder helps when you don't have it. |
What three weeks of nightly checks found
MentionAgent's checker fetches each page where a publisher agreed to link, looks for an <a href> to the customer's site and records the anchor and rel. These are its records for link-building campaigns from 26 September to 17 October 2026, our own sites included, sales outreach excluded.
| What the checker saw | Share |
|---|---|
| Live on the page | 86% |
| Page blocks automated checks (403, bot challenge) | 12% |
| Seen live before, missing now | 2% |
| Of live links: followed (no nofollow, sponsored or ugc) | 94% |
| Of live and missing links: noopener or noreferrer with no qualifying value | 53% |
Two things stand out. One link in eight can't be checked by a script at all, so any checker that only fetches pages needs a manual step for those. And of links with any rel value, 89% carried only noopener or noreferrer, which are not about ranking.
Checking that a link is still live
- Fetch their page, not the homepage.
- Find the
<a>element whosehrefpoints at your domain. Check it points at the URL you recorded. - Read its
rel. The nofollow link checker does steps 1 to 3 for one URL. - If the fetch is blocked, open the page in a browser and look. Don't record a blocked page as missing.
Google's link guidance says it "can only crawl your link if it's an <a> HTML element". If the link is added with JavaScript, the same page suggests the URL Inspection Tool to check it is in the rendered HTML.
Reading the rel attribute correctly
Google's page on qualifying outbound links lists three values: sponsored for paid placements, ugc for comments and forum posts, and nofollow "when other values don't apply".
noopener and noreferrer are not on that list. They appeared with no qualifying value on 53% of the links in our checks. They are browser settings; noopener noreferrer covers what they do. Record them, but don't count them as nofollow.
When a link goes missing
Check again before you write to anyone. When we re-fetched the pages our checker had marked gone, a quarter of those links were back. On the rest, the page was still up and the link had been taken out of the text.
If it is still missing on a second check, write to the person who added it: the page, the sentence it was in and the URL. Link reclamation covers this, along with links that break because your own URLs changed.
Search Console vs your own list
Search Console's Links report shows who links to you, but Google's help page says it "shows a sample of internal and external links", and its tables are "limited to 1,000 rows".
Use it to find links you didn't build, and work through those in a backlink audit. Keep your own list as the record of the links you did build.
Swaps and paid placements
- Swaps: record the link you owe back and the date you added it. More in link exchange.
- Paid placements: Google's spam policies say paid links are fine "as long as they are qualified with a rel="nofollow" or rel="sponsored" attribute value". Record which one the publisher used. More in buying backlinks.
How MentionAgent tracks them
MentionAgent earns links by pitching bloggers who already write about your topic, from $99/mo. Every link a publisher agrees to goes on the Links card in your dashboard, which shows the page, the anchor, whether it is followed and whether a link back is still owed. The checker re-fetches each live link every night. Pages that block it are shown as "is it live?" for you to answer, not as missing.
Earn links you can see on one card
MentionAgent finds the posts, writes the pitches and checks every placed link nightly. From $99/mo, no per-link fees.
See how MentionAgent worksFrequently asked questions
What is backlink management?
Keeping a record of every link you earned (the page, the URL it points to, the anchor, the rel attribute and the date you first saw it) and re-checking that each one is still there and still followed.
Can I use Google Search Console instead of a link list?
Not on its own. Google's help page says the Links report shows a sample of links and that its tables are limited to 1,000 rows. Use it to find links you didn't build, and keep your own list for the ones you did.
Does noopener or noreferrer make a backlink nofollow?
No. Google's page on qualifying outbound links lists sponsored, ugc and nofollow. noopener and noreferrer are not among them. In our nightly checks, 53% of live or removed links carried one of them with no qualifying value.
What should I do when a backlink disappears?
Check the page again by hand first. A quarter of the links our nightly checker marked gone were back on the page when we re-fetched it. If it is still missing, write to the person who added it with the page, the old sentence and the URL.